1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knee protection device for a vehicle which is mounted to the lower crash pad of the vehicle and is deployed in the event of a crash, thus protecting the knees of a passenger.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, vehicle consumers tend to purchase deluxe cars which afford convenience and guarantee safety. Further, as the automobile culture has become widely established, people desire to utilize their cars as a multi-purpose space as well as a transport means. Such a desire also leads to a trend toward deluxe cars. Because of such a trend, a passenger side airbag, a side impact airbag and a knee airbag for protecting a driver's knees have been developed, in addition to a driver's side airbag that is the original type of airbag. A deluxe car market already has adopted the above-mentioned airbags.
Various airbag technologies are applied according to the passenger's body part to be protected. When a head-on car crash occurs with a driver wearing a seat belt and an airbag installed in a car, an injury to the legs is the most frequent. Thus, the knee airbag is mounted to an instrument panel inside the knee region of a driver's seat or a front passenger's seat, so that the knee airbag is deployed simultaneously with the front airbag in the event of a head-on car crash, thus protecting the knees, reducing load acting on the thighs, quickly restraining the knees and improving the passenger's positioning in preparation for impact, thereby reducing the injury to the breast and head and preventing his or her body from being released from the seat belt, namely, preventing a submarine. Further, in the event of an offset crash, the knee airbag may prevent the knees from being injured due to a collision with a steering column.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a conventional knee protection device for a vehicle. As shown in the drawing, the knee protection device is provided to protect a passenger's knees aside from a knee airbag, and comprises a knee bolster 30 which is mounted inside a lower crash pad 20 on the lower end of a steering column 10. The conventional knee bolster 30 is installed inside the lower crash pad 20, thus absorbing shocks when a passenger's knees collide with the lower crash pad 20.
Meanwhile, the airbag structure may be applied to the knee bolster. That is, in the event of a vehicle crash, the knee bolster inflates to actively absorb shocks. However, while the knee bolster is inflating, the lower crash pad may undesirably strike a passenger's knees, thus injuring the knees.
That is, when the knee bolster is used in the same manner as the airbag in addition to the knee airbag, the lower crash pad strikes the knees, so that shocks are not efficiently absorbed, and instead a passenger may suffer from a secondary injury.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.